Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Land Use Patterns In Relation To Lake Water Quality In The North Pond Watershed, Problems In Environmental Science Course (Biology 493), Colby College, Colby Environmental Assessment Team, Colby College

Colby College Watershed Study: East and North Ponds (2011, 1999, 1996, 1991)

Human activity within the watershed can greatly accelerate the eutrophication process by increasing the rate at which nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen enter the lake (Fernandez et al. 1992). Increased nutrient loading causes dramatic increases in algal populations resulting in algal blooms. Many New England lakes develop a greenish tint because of algal blooms during early summer or early fall. Populations of bacteria which feed on organic material rise because of increased food supply. Bacterial activity decreases the level of dissolved oxygen in the lake (Henderson-Seller and Markland, 1987). A sharp decrease in dissolved oxygen levels can cause massive …

Flash Pyrolysis Of Anthropogenic And Natural Organic Matter In Polluted Sediments, Sami T. Abdel Bagi, Michael A. Kruge, Gary L. Salmon

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

INTRODUCTION - Combustion products along with spilled petroleum and industrial chemicals contribute to environmental degradation by contaminating soils and sediments. Such anthropogenic organic matter (OM), if preserved in sediments, can serve an archival function, documenting the local, history of industrial pollution. Christensen and Zhang (1993) determined the sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (P AH) to Lake Michigan from sedimentary records, finding that coal combustion was a major source for PAHs in these sediments. Bodzek and Luks-Betlej (1993) reported that atmospheric deposition is the main source of PAH in soils of the heavily industrialized Upper Silesia region of Poland. Smith and …

Fuel Characteristics Of Rehabilitated Bauxite Mines In Western Australia, Sarah J. Collins

Theses : Honours

This investigation assessed the fuel characteristics of Alcoa of Australia's rehabilitated bauxite mines in the south-west of Western Australia. The study determined the fuel loads, their composition and structure. The characteristics of fuel were determined, their relationship with time ascertained, and the similarity of these characteristics to the jarrah forest ecosystems that they have replaced was discussed. Pits aged from four to twenty years since rehabilitation were assessed. Predictive models were developed to allow the rapid assessment of fuel. The fuel characteristics in two controlled bum areas were also assessed to how much fuel would burn in a fire and …

An Investigation Into The Use Of The Freshwater Crayfish Marron (Cherax Tenuimanus) As A Flagship For The Restoration Of The Blackwood River, Rachael Nickoll

Theses : Honours

The Marron (Cherax tenuimanus) is arguably the most easily identified and ecologically important aquatic animal species in south-western Australian rivers. In fact it is quintessientially south-western Australian, endemic to the south-west corner of the continent and supporting a recreational fishery and commercial aquaculture industry within the state. Marron have keystone qualities as hosts of various epiphytic flora and fauna, and are central to the food web within south-west rivers. Their sensitivity to depleted oxygen conditions have also made them a potential "indicator" for water quality degradation. The study investigated these qualities in reference to the marron's potential as …

Toolibin Catchment Revegetation Manual, Avril Baxter

Natural resources published reports

In1983, heavy winter rains resulted in severe inundation and flooding of the lower parts of the Toolibin catchment. The damage to crops and pastures was immense and costly. Local farmers realised that they needed to work together to minimise the impact of heavy rainfall events on their farm productivity.

At the same time the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) was concerned about the quality of both ground and surface water in the catchment area for Toolibin Lake, the last remaining wooded freshwater lake in the southern wheatbelt. This mutual interest led to the formation of the …

Introduced Cyprinid (Carp) Fishes In Western Australia And Their Management Implications, K. R. Breheny

Theses : Honours

Australia has no native cyprinid species and five introduced species have established self-sustaining populations. This study examines the cyprinid species present in Western Australia and estimates their distribution. The potential for introduced cyprinids to cause environmental impacts is explained and ameliorative action recommended. The presence and distribution of cyprinid species is assessed by examination of museum records, published literature, reported collections, anecdotal evidence and sampling of wetland habitats. Two species, Carassius nuratus (Goldfish) and Cyprinus carpio (Koi carp) are believed to have established populations and a map of estimated distribution is compiled. The capacity for introduced carp to undergo sudden …

Land Use Planning For Agriculture And Sustainable Rural Development, Ian Kininmonth, Andrew Bathgate, Ross George, Dennis Van Gool

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

An important goel for agriculture will be to achieve sustainable land use patterns and management systems.

Land use planning has a role to play in helping agticulture achieve this goal. Ian Kininmouth, Andrew Bathgate, Ross George and Dennis Van Gool discuss the directions land use planning could follow.

A Functional Group Approach To Detecting Shifts In Macroalgal Communities Along A Disturbance Gradient, J. C. Phillips

Theses : Honours

A recently proposed hypothesis argued that morphologically and functionally similar macroalgae could be grouped to study the structure of macroalgal communities. It was argued that these functional groups can be used to predict changes to community composition that result from disturbance. This study examined whether the functional group model held in detecting changes in macroalgal community structure within one bioregion, by applying it to a habitat exposed to different levels of physical disturbance associated with wave exposure. Results obtained using a functional group approach were compared to those obtained using a species level approach. Three parallel reef lines in Marmion …

Captive Environmental Influences On Behavior In Zoo Drills And Mandrills (Mandrillus), A Threatened Genus Of Primate, Erik Terdal

Dissertations and Theses

Drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus) are an endangered species of African monkey (Cercopithecidae), and their sole congener the mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is vulnerable to extinction. Both species are threatened in the wild by deforestation and hunting.

Drills have a poor record of captive reproduction. Many individuals appear to have behavioral deficiencies which interfere with reproduction. Thus, the zoo population of drills does not serve as a “hedge” against the species’ total extinction: drills are endangered in captivity as well as in the wild. Mandrills, by contrast, reproduce well in captivity. Information on the behavior of mandrills in captivity may help zoo managers …

Synthetic Organic Compounds: Las Vegas Wash And Lake Mead, National Water Quality Assessment Program (Nawqa): Nevada Basin And Range

Publications (WR)

The Nevada Basin and Range (NVBR) study unit of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program is investigating the status of, trends in, and factors affecting water quality in the Las Vegas area. A principal objective of the investigation is to assess the effects of urbanization on the quality of area water resources. Las Vegas Wash is the surface-water outlet for the Las Vegas area. The wash transports stormwater runoff, shallow ground-water discharge, and tertiary-treated sewage effluent from the Las Vegas area to Las Vegas Bay of Lake Mead on the Colorado River. Most of the flow—about 96 …

Bulletin No. 34: Tidal Marshes Of Long Island Sound: Ecology, History And Restoration, Glenn D. Dreyer, William A. Niering

Bulletins

No abstract provided.

Soil Acidity. A Reference Manual., Linda Leonard, Mike D. Bolland

Natural resources published reports

This publication is intended as a guide for consultants, development officers and field representatives for the extension of soil acidity in Western Australia.

Most Western Australian soils are naturally acidic. Acid peaty sands in the high rainfall area of the South West are the only W.A. soils in which natural acidity has been treated routinely before productive agriculture was introduced. There are approximately 100, 000 hectares of acid, peaty sands scattered through coastal districts between Pemberton and Rocky Gully districts.

Intercomparison Of Local Hydroxyl Measurements By Radiocarbon And Fage Techniques, Malcolm J. Campbell, Brad D. Hall, John C. Sheppard, Philip L. Utley, Robert J. O'Brien, Thomas M. Hard, Linda Acha George

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

A direct intercomparison of near-surface tropospheric HO concentration measurements by two different techniques was made in October–November 1992 at a rural site near Pullman, Washington. The atmosphere at the site is believed to contain low levels of anthropogenic pollution. The instruments' inlets were located at the same height (3.5 m) above the ground and were separated by 10 m along a line normal to the prevailing wind. Readings of the FAGE3 and radiocarbon instruments showed a high correlation (r² = 0.74) despite HO concentrations that were frequently near the detection limit of the instruments. An unweighted least squares regression shows …

Fish Tissue Contamination In Maine Lakes : Data Report, Jeanne Difranco, Linda Bacon, Barry Mower, David Courtemanch

Maine Collection

Fish Tissue Contamination in Maine Lakes : Data Report

by Jeanne DiFranco, Linda Bacon, Barry Mower and David Courtemanch

Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (REMAP)

State of Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Land and Water Quality, Division of Environmental Assessment, State House Station 17, Augusta, Maine 04333 (September 1995).

Contents: List of Figures and Tables / I. Introduction / II. Goals and Objectives / III. Experimental Design / IV. Methods / V. Data / VI. Quality Assurance-Quality Control / Appendices A-H

Nutrient Limitation In A Southwestern Desert Reservoir: Eutrophication Of Las Vegas Bay, Lake Mead, Nevada, Davine M. Lieberman

Publications (WR)

Algal bioassay tests were conducted with Selenastrum capricornutum and natural algae on inner Las Vegas Bay, Lake Mead, Nevada, from December 1992 through September 1993, to identify any nutrient limitation in an area of the reservoir that has experienced problems associated with severe nutrient enrichment. Three areas were sampled based on a gradient of water quality conditions that existed in Las Vegas Bay (LVB). Disodium ethylenedinitrilotetraacetate (EDTA) significantly stimulated algal growth compared to non-EDTA treatment. Algal bioassays indicated that phosphorus (P) was the primary limiting nutrient at all stations for most of the test dates. Chl a response with EDTA …

Managing Household Hazardous Waste Or Making A Choice To Do Something Without Going Broke, Maine State Planning Office

Maine Collection

Managing Household Hazardous Waste Or Making a Choice to Do Something Without Going Broke

State of Maine, State Planning Office, Augusta, Maine

Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, Auburn, Maine

August 1995.

Contents: Acknowledgements / Abbreviations / Introduction / I. History of Household Hazardous Waste in Maine / II. How-To Guide for Towns / Appendixes / Bibliography

Native Vegetation Handbook For The Shire Of Dumbleyung, Shaun B. Grein

Native vegetation handbook series

This booklet provides agricultural land managers with information relating to the natural resources of the Shire of Dumbleyung including the existing vegetation, drainage systems and soils. Some of the problems relating to the management of natural resources in the Shire of Dumbleyung and possible solutions to these problems are also discussed. By providing this information it is hoped this booklet will contribute to the long term viability of the agricultural landscape and the conservation of native vegetation within the Shire.

Environmental Changes In A Polluted Stream During Winter, Arden R. Gaufin, Clarence M. Tarzwell

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Year round studies of environmental conditions in Lytle Creek, a stream polluted with organic wastes, were initiated late in 1949, by the Biology Section of the Public Health Service's Environmental Health Center.2 Lytle Creek is a tributary of the Little Miami River which enters the Ohio River at Cincinnati. It is about 11 miles long, and has an average width and depth of 15 feet and 1 foot respectively, during normal summer flows. Widths range from 3 to 35 feet and depths from a few inches to a maximum of 6 feet. Surface runoff comprises the major portion of the …

Zooplankton Community Dynamics In The Elizabeth River, Virginia, William C. Sharp

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Zooplankton community structure and dynamics were studied over a 12 month period in the Elizabeth River, an industrially polluted tidal river in the Chesapeake Bay estuarine system. An additional site in this estuary (Hampton Roads) was sampled for comparative purposes. Multivariate analysis indicated five distinct temporal groups occurred during the year, but there were no significant differences in spatial composition within the river. Maximum zooplankton concentrations were observed in July and lowest abundances were observed in February, March, and November. Copepods, especially Acartia species, were the most abundant components of the zooplankton community, comprising 67 to 93% of the total …

Fage Determination Of Tropospheric Ho And Ho₂, Linda Acha George, Thomas M. Hard, Robert J. O'Brien

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

FAGE (fluorescence assay with gas expansion) was developed as a sensitive technique for the detection of low-concentration free radicals in the atmosphere. The application of FAGE to tropospheric hydroxyl (H0) and hydroperoxyl (H0₂) radicals has yielded calibrated measurements of both species in both clean air and highly polluted urban air. For HO calibration, a continuously stirred tank reactor provides a uniform external HO concentration, which can be measured by gas chromatography of an HO-reactive hydrocarbon. The aerodynamics of the air-sampling process has been modeled computationally, with results that agree with empirical observations of the effects of nozzle diameter on HO …

Effects Of Tactical Responses And Risk Aversion On Farm Wheat Supply, Ross S. Kingwell

Natural Resources Research Articles

A discrete stochastic programming model of the farming system of the eastern wheatbelt of Western Australia is used to examine the effect of tactical responses and risk aversion on wheat supply. Including within-season tactical changes to wheat areas decreases the own-price elasticity of supply. By contrast, introducing risk aversion has no consistent effect on the own-price elasticity of supply. The implications for supply models are discussed.

Soil Salinity Assessment Using The Em38 Field Operating Instructions And Data Interpretation, Don Bennett, Richard George, Arjen Ryder

Agriculture reports

The Geonics EM38 is a portable instrument designed to take in situ field measurements of soil conductivity to about 1.5 m depth. If used correctly, the EM38 allows rapid, reliable estimates of soil salinity to be obtained from large areas without intensive soil sampling. The meter is very useful for delineating the extent and relative severity of saline areas. Although soil salinity has the dominant effect on the EM38 signal, other soil physical factors such as clay content, moisture content and temperature can affect the response. If the EM38 measurements are to be related to plant performance and used for …

Spatial Time-Series: Pollution Pattern Recognition Under Irregular Interventions, Samuel A. Wright

Theses and Dissertations

The Fernald Environmental Restoration Management Corporation (FERMCO) has noted the introduction of arsenic contamination to groundwater around the area of the groundwater recovery system, which captures uranium contaminated groundwater. The introduction of arsenic occurs during high levels of pumping and is particularly sensitive to the western two of the five pumps. Auto-Regressive Moving Average (ARMA) and Spatial-Temporal ARMA (STARMA) empirical analyses are used to model the level of arsenic contamination found through time. The intervention of varied levels of pumping is modeled with a transfer function using analytic techniques to create a causal intervention transfer function input series to give …

Buntine-West Wubin And West Maya Catchment Management Report, William Oldfield, Natalie Hunt

Natural resources published reports

Buntine West/Wubin land Conservation District was formed when a number of landholders wanted to extend and join on to some existing deep drains. At first the group concentrated on the deep drains with some farmers joining on anda project to connect the drains up througha naturally occurring saline area and to run the main drain into a salt lake system. Funding was attained for 50% of the project and farmers with drains paid for the rest. It was considered unfair for landowners whose land this drain went through to pay all the cost as it was not draining arable land. …

A Search For The Seasonal Variability On The Depositional Fluxes Of 7Be And 210Pb, M. Baskaran

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Investigations of the atmospheric fallout of ⁷Be and ²¹⁰Pb in many places around the globe indicate that there are seasonal variations on the depositional fluxes of these nuclides: high in winter in a few places, while in most places the high occurs in spring. However, these earlier studies did not address quantitatively the corresponding seasonal variations of the amount of precipitation during these periods. Data on the depositional fluxes of ⁷Be and ²¹⁰Pb in Galveston, Texas, during the years 1989–1991 indicate that the seasonal variation is not uniform from year to year, and the amount of …

Water Resources Studies Along The Arkansas-Oklahoma Border, Kenneth F. Steele

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

The watershed approach to water resource issues recently has been re-discovered. Scientists and managers recognize the need to consider the entire watershed when delineating and solving today's water resource problems. A simple example is the effect that streams have on the ultimate "health" of a reservoir. Although technically the term watershed should be used only in reference to surface water, the importance of ground water is included in the watershed approach to problems. In recognition that we all "live upstream and downstream," the Arkansas Water Resources Center and the Oklahoma Water Resources Institute sponsored a conference titled "Water Resource Studies …

Land Use Patterns In Relation To Lake Water Quality In The Long Pond, South Basin Watershed, Problems In Environmental Science Course (Biology 493), Colby College, Colby College

Colby College Watershed Study: Long Pond, South (2007, 1995)

Long Pond, South Basin receives nutrient inputs from a variety of sources, including roads, construction projects, logging practices, and human waste from subsurface waste disposal systems. If any of these sources are near tributaries or the shoreline, the nutrients can be easily transported into the lake itself. The lake is also used recreationally for boating, fishing and swimming, and is utilized as a source of drinking water for seasonal shoreline residences. The watershed contains the Mt. Vernon and Belgrade transfer stations, and the dump has been capped at each of these stations.

Historically, Long Pond, South Basin has not suffered …

Making Horticulture Sustainable, Bob Paulin, Neil Clifton Lantzke, Ian Mcpharlin, Murray Hegney

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Sweet crunchy carrots, luscious strawberries at very reasonable prices, crisp green vegetables - these are just a few of the horticultural products that Western Australians take for granted and eat almost every day. But is their future availability guaranteed as population grows, suburbia spreads and environmental concern increases?

Cooperative Landcare Venture Revisited, Kate Mcinnes

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Four years ago, the Journal of Agriculture reported on a unique partnership forged in 1989 between the Department of Agriculture Alcoa of Australia Limited and six catchment groups located in the Avon River catchment.

Kate McInnes reports on progress with the Avon Catchment Landcare Project.

Chemical And Biological Monitoring Of A Constructed Wetland On Jones Branch Treating Acid Mine Drainage, Barbara A. Ramey, George Chalfant, Jon A. Walker

KWRRI Research Reports

Acid mine drainage (AMD) from an abandoned underground coal mine in the Jones Branch watershed in McCreary County, KY, substantially reduced water quality in Jones Branch. Downstream from the mine seeps, the pH was routinely below 4.5 and concentrations of most heavy metals, especially iron, were elevated. A cattail wetland (1,022 m²) was constructed on Jones Branch in 1988-1989 to obviate the effects of the AMD. Monthly chemical monitoring was performed on the water from above, from below, from the inlet and outlet of the wetland, and from the 25 cells within the wetland. Based on chemical monitoring, …